Beijing: India and China start key day talks on various issues specially the issue of Kashmir. In the backdrop of recent developments in the Jammu and Kashmir, China watches the tense situations in the valley region. New Delhi on its part reiterated the consensus reached between the leadership of the two countries that bilateral differences should not become disputes.
Heading the talks for India, external affairs minister S Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that India-China ties had a unique place in global politics and the two countries have been sensitive to each other’s core concerns. Modi and Xi had met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana in Kazakhstan 2017.
He said, “As you know, the India-China relationship has a very unique place in global politics. Two years ago our leaders (PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping) recognized that reality and reached a consensus at Astana that at a time of global uncertainty, India-China relationship be a factor of stability, and to ensure that it was important that differences between us, if any, should not become disputes”.
Jaishankar’s two-day visit to China was finalised before New Delhi revoked the special status to J&K and bifurcated the state into two union territories on August 5. Beijing is nevertheless expected to raise its concerns about the situation, especially because its all-weather ally Pakistan already sent its foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, last week to discuss the issue with Wang. China has called India’s decision to change Ladakh’s status to a union territory (UT) “unacceptable”.
